2014 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 15-24
Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has constructed the world’s largest level underground LPG storage cavern in Namikata (450,000 tons) and Kurashiki (400,000 tons). In order to ensure the air-tightness performance of storage caverns, the authors developed a new observational design/construction system for the construction of the underground LPG storage cavern and the hydraulic containment system. The developed observational design/construction system integrates the geological/hydro-geological data to evaluate the hydraulic behaviors and mechanical stability during excavation. In this study, the authors applied the developed observational design/construction system to evaluate the hydraulic behaviors during the site-scale hydraulic test in Namikata underground LPG storage site. The pore pressure distribution and seepage of tunnel walls were compared with simulation results for evaluation. As the result, it has been confirmed that the hydraulic potential has been recovered in the inner area of water curtain and the amount of seepage inflow has been kept under the criterion.
